VOORHEES, N.J. — It is the kind of play that can repeat itself in a player’s nightmares. The kind of play that turned an encouraging evening for the Flyers into just another miserable, sleep-losing night.

The kind of play that head coach Craig Berube felt Wednesday bore repeating.

So at practice on the day after the Flyers’ latest disturbance, a 3-2 loss Tuesday night to the Vancouver Canucks, the role players were put in position for a brief re-run-through, only this time with a running commentary.

As recalled Tuesday night, Henrik Sedin was somewhat back behind the net, while in front of goalie Steve Mason, Nick Grossmann sort of started toward Sedin from one side, Claude Giroux almost went around the other side and stopped, and Braydon Coburn simply appeared to not know where to turn.

Advertisement

Sedin, however, knew just where to pass — into the slot, onto the tape of Chris Higgins’ stick for an easy third period goal that not only got the Canucks into a 2-2 tie, but permanently turned a game that would wind up as the Flyers’ sixth loss in seven season starts.

That’s why it couldn’t hurt to replay that sorry scene.

“Obviously there’s a breakdown and that happens,” defensive leader Kimmo Timonen said. “That’s one of those things. You’ve got to talk about it — especially with the (defenseman) — with what we try to do when the puck is behind the net. Are we forcing it? Are we staying behind? Who’s covering the slot? That kind of stuff.”

To Grossmann, replaying the scene and asking questions such as those raised by Timonen can only help in the near future. One that the Flyers can only feel better about with a win in their next game, Thursday night at home against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

“It’s just trying to clear out the front of the net and clean those goals up,” Grossmann said. “Things we work to try and get better at. We get better every day and plug away.”

Grossmann made sort of a half move toward Sedin on the play, which left Higgins wide open to take the pass. Or at least that’s how it looked.

“You try to contain him and not run at him,” Grossmann said. “I tried to get my stick in there and make a good play. They scored on it. It shouldn’t happen. Something we have to work on.”

That, they did, as they’ve worked on almost every facet of their disjointed game since coach Craig Berube took over for the dismissed Peter Laviolette. Some players, such as Giroux, swear the club’s performances are getting better. Indeed, from an overall perspective, they seem to be better.

The Flyers also seem well short of playing the kind of game that could translate into consistent victories over teams like the Canucks, much less the Penguins.

“To me it doesn’t matter if it’s Pittsburgh or the Rangers or Columbus,” Timonen said. “For us, it’s winning the game and get two points. To me, we’re right there. But it’s a business of winning and we’re not winning. We’ve got to be better and we’ve got to play 60 minutes. Pittsburgh is a really hard team to play against but it’s more important to us to play well and get the win here.”

After the loss to the Canucks, top line winger Jake Voracek was asked about yet another game in which the Flyers had given up the ghost in a third period. Overall this season, they’ve been outshot 10-2 in the final periods of games, continuing a tradition that bit them a season ago.

Voracek used the word “scared” when describing how his team went into third periods of close games. Not the kind of thing coaches like to hear.

“We need to put 60 minutes together,” Berube said. “We’ve put ourselves in position to win games. Going into the third period I find it’s a little bit of letdown and we end up losing them.”

Asked Wednesday if giving up leads has become a common Flyers refrain, Berube said, “We better get unused to it, or else it’s going to keep happening. It’s a mental block. You’ve got to go out and play and be confident.”

l l l

NOTES: Aside from the ongoing absences of Scott Hartnell and Vinny Lecavalier to injuries, the Flyers escaped the Canucks game with their health otherwise intact. Giroux suffered a slash and therefore was held out of practice Wednesday, but is expected to go. Grossmann suffered what he called “a stinger,” but will play against Pittsburgh. ... Speaking of those Penguins: “Yeah, it gets pretty emotional when you play Pittsburgh,” Berube said. “Obviously, they get fired up. We get fired up. We’re looking for some good emotion tomorrow but some controlled emotion.”